TitleHenry Kirke Brown
Artist
Daniel Huntington
(American, 1816 - 1906)
Date[1846]
MediumOil on canvas
DimensionsUnframed: 20 × 16 in.
Framed: 25 1/2 × 21 1/2 × 1 1/2 in.
SubmissionANA diploma presentation
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, NY
Object number608-P
Label TextHuntington and Henry Kirke Brown were good friends before Brown's return to New York in June 1846 after four years in Italy. In 1843-44 they had traveled together in Italy, where Huntington "borrowed" a sketchbook Brown had begun. Although Brown was not elected an Associate until 1847, Huntington wrote in his "Inventory" that he painted this portrait "for National Academy" in 1846. Promptly upon returning to New York, Brown had organized a substantial exhibition of his own sculptures; it was held in the Academy's galleries in November 1846 and was the first solo show of works by a contemporary sculptor held in New York. It was a major success. Up to that time, professional sculptors who lived in New York, and were thus eligible for election to the Academy, were few. Brown was only the second sculptor elected, and he was the first to confirm his election by presenting a diploma portrait. Although executing a diploma portrait well before it was called for suggests hubris, Brown and Huntington would have had every reason to be confident that the sculptor would be elected to the Academy at the spring meeting of 1847. It also is possible that Huntington, in reconstructing the chronological record of his own works, noted this portrait by referring to its destination rather than to the purpose for which it had been painted.
When interviewed for a profile of Brown, Huntington responded, "If I should express half the admiration I feel for what he has accomplished, my enthusiasm would be charged to the account of the warm personal friendship which exists between us."
The portrait was probably reduced to its present size from original dimensions of twenty-five by thirty inches.
